


Thyme/Table

by ClagJanetSMK



Series: A Pandemic Alphabet [20]
Category: Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Genre: 2020 Lockdown Stories, Christmas Fluff, Even though it's 2021 now, F/M, Family, Humor, Love, T is for Thyme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28884714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClagJanetSMK/pseuds/ClagJanetSMK
Summary: Phillip's Christmas present for Amanda is a big hit. Maybe a little too big.
Relationships: Amanda King/Lee Stetson
Series: A Pandemic Alphabet [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031118
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Thyme/Table

Lee was feeling surprisingly at ease, sitting openly in Amanda's house instead of outside, hidden in the shadows. Not just that, but he'd been actively welcomed, with Dotty and Lillian continuing to tease them both about him being Amanda's boyfriend, Amanda continuing to apologize for them, and Joe alternating between sympathetic looks and open glee that Lee was in their sights. The boys – who'd worried him the most – had obviously just relegated him to the "grownups" and accepted his presence as being of no consequence whatsoever. Just as Amanda had predicted, all his worrying had been a giant waste of time.

"Amanda, Darling, we need to pick a spot for this shelf," Dotty gestured at Phillip's Christmas gift. "It can't stay here in the middle of everything."

"You're absolutely right, Mother," Amanda replied. She pulled her hand out of Lee's, stood up from her place on the couch and walked to the bottom of the steps. "Phillip, can you come down here for a minute?"

There was the sound of thundering feet coming down and then "Yeah, Mom?" as Phillip galloped back into the room with all the enthusiasm of a young golden retriever.

"Your grandmother and I need some help putting this somewhere less in the way," she smiled at him and tousled his hair. "And since it's your masterpiece, I think you should help pick out where we put it."

Phillip beamed and turned slowly around, surveying the room. "Huh. I didn't really think about where it was gonna go," he confessed.

Joe and Lee got up as well and there was a moment of silence as all the adults furiously tried to figure out a spot for it.

"Would it fit in the laundry room?" asked Joe finally.

Dotty shook her head. "No, the whole wall has built-in shelves." Off Joe's look, she added, "They're new. We put them in a few years ago while you were away so the boys had somewhere to put their sports equipment."

"How about along here?" asked Lee pointing to the thin wall between the kitchen and family room. "You could move this shelf somewhere else, couldn't you?"

This time it was Amada that shook her head. "It's a good idea, Sweetheart, but I need to be able to get at the plug down there when I'm vacuuming."

Lee shot a quick glance at Joe to see if he'd reacted to Amanda's use of the endearment, but he was deep in thought, surveying the room.

"This was a dumb idea," lamented Phillip, shoulders drooping. "I shoulda made you something else."

"Oh no, Phillip! I love it!" said Amanda, reaching out to wrap an arm around him and reel him in for a hug. "We just need to think outside the box."

"What about the dining room?" Joe asked. "The wall beside the door to the kitchen?"

"That should work," agreed Amanda. "And it would still be handy for the kitchen."

"Right on!" exclaimed Phillip.

He and Joe each picked up an end of the spice rack and began shuffling into the dining room, turning once they got there in order to place its back against the wall.

"Dad, help me shift the sideboard down this wall so it'll fit," said Phillip.

Joe cleared his throat. "I, uh, don't think it will fit actually. Even if we move the sideboard, I think it'll still be hanging over the doorframe."

Really?" asked Phillip in disappointment.

A quick check with a measuring tape confirmed the problem – even with the sideboard shifted right down the wall, Phillip's shelf would stick out two inches past the door to the kitchen. All eyes swivelled to the other corner where the china cabinet reached to the ceiling and left no room there either.

Phillip turned in a slow circle, looking at the other walls all with either doorways or windows. "Oh man," he said sadly. "Why did I make it so big? It won't fit anywhere! What a stupid present."

"Oh, now come on," said Amanda, encouragingly. "It's a beautiful shelf and we'll find a spot for it – we just need to be creative."

They walked back into the family room.

"How about along there?" asked Joe. "If you moved the fish tank somewhere else?"

"It would block the patio door," Dotty pointed out what they were all thinking.

"Do you use both doors a lot?" asked Joe. "I mean, one would still open and there's another door right around the corner."

"I guess that could work," said Amanda slowly. "Or we could move this one like Lee suggested and I could run an extension cord out from behind it for the vacuum."

"Uh, Amanda?" Lee's voice came from behind them, where he was standing in the doorway to the living room. "I might have another idea." He gestured for them to follow him.

"I know this might sound crazy," he began, suddenly shy with the eyes of so many family members on him, "but, uh, I was wondering if it could go here?" he pointed to a piece of wall with a small writing desk pushed up against it.

"Well," Amanda started to say something, but Lee interrupted her.

"I know, I know," he was nodding rapidly. "It's a spice rack but what if it wasn't?'

"Whadda ya mean, Mr. Stetson?" asked Phillip.

"Well, I was just thinking about how your mom said we should think outside the box and I thought… well, if it doesn't have to be a spice rack, what else could it be?" Lee explained. "Now see, if you moved this table and put the shelf you built here…" he waved his hand at the wall, "and then you put the keyboard you got from your dad in front of it…" he waved his hand horizontally now, "Then you could use the shelves to hold things like sheet music, or knick-knacks or cassette tapes."

"Wow," said Phillip. "That could be so cool – what do you think, Mom?"

"I think Lee's right," said Amanda. "The shelves are exactly the right height for cassettes."

"And if the keyboard is in here, anyone can play it without disturbing anyone watching television or playing the radio in the other room!" exclaimed Dotty, clapping her hands together.

"Those are all really good ideas," said Phillip, nodding. "But then what do we do with the table that's there?"

Lee blushed a little and ran a hand over his head, "Well, if it's okay with you and your mother, I could use it at my place."

"You could?" asked Amanda without thinking. "Where?"

Lee didn't answer her, turning to Dotty instead. "I just moved into a new condo a few months ago," he explained to her. "And I got rid of a bunch of my old furniture, and there's still a few things I could use for the new space. If I could borrow this for a while, that could work for both of us."

"I think it sounds perfect," Dotty replied, turning to Amanda. "But, of course, it's up to Amanda."

"I think it sounds perfect too," Amanda smiled at Lee, with gratitude written all over her face. "But are you sure you're okay with that, Phillip?"

He nodded vigorously. "Actually, it's a really good idea because if the keyboard is there, it wouldn't be so easy for it to fall over and even if it does, there won't be spices all over the floor."

Lee and Joe both coughed to cover their laughter, while Amanda gave Phillip a hug.

"Okay, well then let's set that up," she said. "Lee and I can move the table out into the hallway for now and you and your dad can bring the shelf in."

Phillip, smiling from ear to ear, darted off, followed more slowly by Joe who paused in the doorway. "Thanks, Lee, you really saved our bacon on this one."

"Anytime," grinned Lee.

Joe nodded his appreciation again and turned to go help Phillip, followed by Dotty who they could soon hear acting as a traffic controller, complete with little squeals from her as they came close to scraping doorways.

"This was a great idea," said Amanda, tipping up to kiss him softly. "But where are you going to put the table? You already have a living room full of furniture and you know it."

"Ah," said Lee, slipping his hands around her waist. "It's not going in the living room."

"It's not?" she asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"No, I thought it would make a good addition to the bedroom," he replied. "So you have somewhere for your brushes and your makeup and whatnot. We can get one of those stand-up mirrors for it."

Amanda gasped. "So I don't have to balance everything on the edge of the sink anymore?" She gave a small laugh. "And that's why you didn't answer that question when I asked in front of Mother and Phillip!"

Lee nodded, grinning.

"Well, thank you for saving me from that embarrassment," she said. "And I really do think it's a wonderful idea!"

"I know," he answered with a smug nod. "I'm not just a pretty face, you know."

She reached up to cup his face. "I do know that. You're also a good man. And thank you too for thinking of it and saving Phillip's feelings."

Lee gave a small grimace. "Well, we've all had those shop class projects that didn't quite work out and he was pretty excited to show it off – I didn't want him regretting that." He leaned forward to pick up the table and started to move it to the front hall, Amanda rushing ahead of him to move a chair out of his path. "Thanks," he said, moving into the hall and placing the table down beside the stairs. "I'll put this in the back of the Jeep later and we can unload it next time you come over."

"So, what was it?" Amanda asked.

"What was what?" he asked back.

She moved in and slipped her arms around him, smiling up with dancing eyes. "What was the shop class project that you regretted?"

"Oh that." He grimaced. "I made a key rack in the sixth grade."

"That doesn't sound regret-worthy," she grinned at him.

"It looked pretty but as soon as you hung a key chain on it, the pegs would fall out," he admitted. "I varnished all the pieces separately instead of putting it together first and the pegs kept slipping out. It was a mess, but unfortunately I only found that out _after_ showing it off to the Colonel."

"Oh dear," she bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Do you still have it? Maybe you could cheer Phillip up by showing it to him."

"I don't, actually," he answered. "The Colonel has it."

"He does?" Amanda was faintly surprised.

"He does," Lee nodded. "He's had it by the front door of every set of quarters he's ever lived in. I could see him trying not to laugh that first day, but he managed it – barely – and then he complimented me on the good varnishing job and then he walked me over to the maintenance depot to get one of the guys to find me some glue that would hold the pegs in."

"He's a good man too," Amanda commented, giving him a quick squeeze.

"I forget that sometimes," Lee admitted. "He was always quick to pick a fight if I'd done something wrong, or he thought I had, but he was also pretty encouraging when he thought I'd tried."

"Well, that's probably why his men are so loyal to him."

"Probably," Lee agreed. "And it probably works better coming from a commanding officer than an uncle. It always felt like I was under review, you know? And never living up to expectations."

"He tried hard too," said Amanda. "It can't have been easy, stepping in to try and be a parent."

Lee glanced towards the living room, where the faint sounds of Phillip and Joe moving the shelf into place could be heard. "That's what I'm afraid of. I mean, I only had the Colonel, but the boys still have Joe. Where do I fit in?"

"Oh Sweetheart, it's not a competition and they've only just met you. You're starting off on the right foot with Phillip, and Jamie will like you just fine when he gets to know you better."

"You think so?" Lee sounded doubtful.

"I know so," she confirmed, pressing another kiss on his cheek. "And I know it's not always going to be easy, for you or for them, because that's just how families work, but you know what else I know?"

Lee cocked his head and waited.

"I know you fit in because I love you."

Lee's smile lit up his face. "And I love you too."

"I know that too." She smiled at him. "But like I said, it's not a race, it's not a competition, we just have to take it in baby steps."

"Right," he nodded. "Baby steps."

"Amanda!" Dotty's voice at the living room door made them both jump. "Did you just say something about having a baby?"

"Whaaat?" Lee's face was a look in abject terror.

"Mother!" Amanda let go of Lee and moved to push Dotty back into the living room, scolding her as she went. "Mother, you know perfectly well that's not what I said." She paused in the doorway to smile back at Lee who was still standing looking shell-shocked. "Sorry about that too," she chuckled, blowing him a kiss before disappearing after her mother.

Lee was still staring at the empty space, shaking his head, when he became aware that someone had come down the stairs and was standing beside him. He looked over to meet Jamie's steady gaze.

"Hi," he said lamely. He still felt at a bit of a loss talking to the boys – he knew so much about them and they still thought of him as a complete stranger, and while he could charm the wife of a foreign diplomat in two seconds flat, the skill didn't really translate well to teenagers. "Thanks again for the scarf."

Jamie gave a little shrug. "Mom said we had to get you something."

"Ah." Lee rocked back and forth on his heels, not sure what else he could say to that. "Well, it was very nice."

The sounds of Dotty and Lillian shrieking with laughter and Amanda's voice raised in laughing remonstration came from the living room. Jamie glanced that direction, then back at Lee.

"Grandma getting to you?"

Lee nodded.

"Don't worry, it's nothing to do with you," shrugged Jamie, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. "She gets like this every time Mom brings home a new boyfriend."

Lee managed to hide his wince. "Every time, huh?"

"Yeah, don't take it personally. She'll do it the next guy too."

With that last shot, Jamie wandered off to the kitchen, leaving Lee shaking his head and speechless for at least the second, if not third, time that evening.

" _Maybe winning over the boys is going to be harder than I thought_ ," he laughed to himself.

Phillip appeared in the living room entrance, his face alight with happiness, bouncing on his toes, just the way his mother did when she was excited. "You wanna come see, Mr. Stetson? Your idea worked great! This is going to be awesome!"

" _Or maybe not,"_ Lee told himself, giving Phillip a grin and following him to join the others. " _Baby steps, right?"_


End file.
